The disclosure relates generally to monitors for measuring the weight of an object, such as a feed bin, and methods of installing such monitors. More particularly, the disclosure relates to monitors having a suspended load cell that is positioned above a bottom of a leg of the object.
Many animal finishing facilities have bulk bins and automated feed delivery systems. In theory, these bins and delivery systems are intended to assure an uninterrupted flow of feed to the feeder. In reality, however, various known delivery systems result in varying disruptions of feed availability, which may have very serious consequences. For example, out-of-feed events can cause animal health problems, such as ulcers, particularly in pigs. Other potential health problems include, for example, cannibalistic tail biting and Hemorrhagic Bowel Syndrome, which is often fatal to the animal. Moreover, it is believed that even one out-of-feed event can have a prolonged negative effect on weight gain. Paid dividends can be directly affected as a result.
Out-of-feed events can be caused by a variety of causes. One notable cause is human error. Human errors are generally associated with empty bins, which occur when feed is not ordered, prepared, and delivered in a timely manner. Other causes of out-of-feed events include, for example, bridging and rat-holing of the feed. In these cases, the feed still remains in the bin, but does not flow to the delivery or auger system. As a result, even though feed is present in the bin, it is not delivered to the animals. When this occurs, the feed delivery system may shut down due to its extended run timers. No feed is then delivered until the feed delivery system is manually reset. If producers are not closely monitoring the feed delivery system, animals can be without feed for extended periods of time. While out-of-feed events can be prevented, in practice, they occur quite often.
One method of preventing out-of-feed events involves personally checking each bin by climbing up a ladder to the top of the bin and visually noting and monitoring the level of the bin. This method is labor-intensive and can be quite dangerous, especially in frigid, icy, or wet weather. To save time and avoid safety risks associated with climbing to the top of the bin, some workers have resorted to physically hitting the bin to estimate the level of the feed by listening to the sound reverberation. This method, however, does not provide the producer with very accurate information. It is also still labor-intensive because the worker has to personally check each individual bin. Further, as compared to the past, it is now more common for farms to be isolated from the workers. As a result, it takes more effort to check and monitor the feed systems. Therefore, the feed bins often are not checked frequently enough to prevent out-of-feed events because it takes too much time to check the bins, and, additionally, rush orders are often not fulfilled quickly enough.
Accordingly, electronic monitors have been devised to monitor feed levels. These known electronic monitors are equipped with compression load cells positioned on a concrete slab underneath the bin legs. The load cells measure the amount of the feed in the bin and are able to track the level and the changes in the feed weight, for example, from deliveries and consumption. Some of these known electronic monitors can make feed level data available to producers by telephone. Many producers choose not to implement these known systems, however, because they are costly and are difficult to retrofit to existing bins. Separate jacks or cranes are required so that the bin legs can be raised approximately 3-4 inches off of the concrete slab. Raising the bin disrupts the connections between the bins and the conveyor pipes that carry the feed from the bin to the feeding point. Known electronic feed bin monitors can also be unreliable because they are often susceptible to adverse affects on the accuracy of their measurements due to ice and foreign material under the supporting mechanisms. These supporting mechanisms include foot pads that are bolted to the concrete slab beneath the bin. Bolting the foot pads to the concrete slab introduces torques that can twist the load cell system enough to produce false readings at times.
Some other known systems are sonar or ultrasound based. One drawback of such systems is that they only report a feed level, not weight. As a result, these systems have difficulty maintaining accuracy when, for example, there is bridging or rat-holing of feed, there are significant changes in feed density, or there are temperature variations. All of these events can alter the correlation between feed level and the true amount or weight of feed. Known sonar or ultrasound based systems can also only provide level monitoring. Thus, they cannot accurately measure feed delivered or consumed by weight. The present invention addresses problems associated with the related art.